Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 38 : Fall 2018 | Page 25

UMFK, UMPI target nursing shortage
with launch of Nursing BSN in central
Aroostook County
Labs and classrooms to support nursing and healthcare education
among $7 million in proposed upgrades planned for Aroostook County
campuses pending voter approval of University Workforce Development
Infrastructure Investment Bond
by University of Maine at Presque Isle
by University of Maine at Fort Kent
In an effort to overcome the critical shortage
of healthcare providers in Ar oostook County
and to help address the statewide nursing cliff,
the University of Maine at Fort Kent and
the University of Maine at Presque Isle are
collaborating to launch a Bachelor of Science in
Nursing (BSN) degree program in Presque Isle
starting in Fall 2018.
Temporary lab space has been prepared
on the UMPI campus to accommodate an
initial cohort of 16 nursing students this fall.
Permanent lab space and planned program
and facility improvements designed to achieve
an ongoing increase in nursing and healthcare
education capacity and attract more students
to Aroostook County are contingent on voter
approval of Question 4, the University of Maine
System Workforce Development Infrastructure
Investment Bond on the ballot this November.
The proposal includes more than $7 million in
planned investments at UMFK and UMPI.
Designed for those who aren’t able to travel to
Fort Kent to complete a Nursing degree due
to family and work responsibilities, this new
program will allow students to complete all four
years of the BSN on the UMPI campus. Program
participants will be UMPI students for the first
two years, then transition as UMFK students for
the remaining two years. They will still take all of
their courses on the Presque Isle campus for their
last two years, but those courses will be delivered
by UMFK Nursing faculty and students will
graduate with their BSN from UMFK.
“UMFK is committed to addressing nursing
workforce challenges, and expanding our BSN
program to Presque Isle is one way to do so,”
UMFK President John Short said. “Both
campuses provide quality, affordable education
and offering our BSN program on the UMPI
campus will address another important need in
the County: increased access to high-demand
educational programs.”
“We are so pleased to be working with UMFK
on this important endeavor and to have UMPI
be part of the solution in addressing Maine’s
nursing workforce crisis,” UMPI President Ray
Rice said. “This program allows us to meet
our students where they’re at, to attract those
students who might otherwise leave the County
for their education—decreasing the likelihood
that they’ll return for their careers—and,
ultimately, introduce more four-year Nursing
graduates into the local workforce.”
FALL 2018
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